Firefighters aim to raise awareness following deadly fire

St. Johns firefighters went around to raise awareness when it comes to fire safety after a 12-year-old boy was killed early Saturday morning in a Johns Island house fire.

“We went back to the area we had the fatal fire on Saturday,” St. Johns Chief Fire Marshall Ryan Kunitzer said. “We met with several residents and stopped at many times and we were able to install 34 alarms and 14 batteries in just about an hour and a half,” said Kunitzer.

“I’d rather them come in behind me and check because it’s safer,” Elizabeth Wood said.

She said early detection is even more important now after just down the road a weekend fire took the life a teenage boy.

“I cannot physically or mentally picture what happened with that family and the loss of their home and their child so I’d rather them cone in so I’ll never have to be in a position I ever have to deal with that,” Wood said.

Chief Kunitzer said if there’s a fire in a residential structure they will go back to the neighborhood to meet with neighbors and check alarms.

“Unfortunately when something like this does happen it puts in people’s minds this is really important,” Kunitzer said.

“We know working smoke alarms save lives. Early detection in a fire is critical to escaping the fire so it’s really important we have those working smoke alarms,” Kunitzer said.

The St. Johns Fire Rescue offers free services to check out your smoke detector and replace your detector and battery.